Jeff Raz explores the intersection of circus, theater and music from many different angles – as a clown, an actor, a teacher, a director and a playwright. His 35 year career has taken him from remote Alaskan villages to Broadway, across the continental United States and to Europe, Japan and China. He also performed in our show in 2012.
In 2000, Jeff founded The Clown Conservatory, the only comprehensive professional clown training program in the United States, and he directed the program until 2010. Jeff is now the Bay Area Casting Partner for Cirque du Soleil, the Artistic Director of the Medical Clown Project and a director with the global consulting firm Stand & Deliver.
A graduate of the Dell’Arte International, Jeff has performed with Cirque du Soleil, The Pickle Circus, Vaudeville Nouveau and Make*A*Circus and in such theaters as Berkeley Repertory Theater, The Goodman Theater in Chicago, Marin Theater Company, The Kennedy Center, TheaterWorks of Palo Alto, The San Francisco and Marin Shakespeare Festivals and Lincoln Center Theater in New York.
In 2007, Jeff spent the year touring the U.S. as the lead character in Cirque du Soleil’s “Corteo”. He reprised his role, in Japanese, in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka in 2009 and 2010.
Our audiences have enjoyed Frank Olivier’s performances for many years. Frank developed his unique off-beat brand of humor in San Francisco starting off on the streets entertaining tourists, and quickly moving into the Bay Area’s numerous comedy clubs. He was soon sharing the bill with Dana Carvey, Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, and others.
Olivier has a growing number of television appearances including The Tonight Show, America’s Got Talent, HBO’s ‘Just for Laughs’, Comic Strip Live, and shows for PBS, HBO, BBC, Disney and more. He also headlines Las Vegas, comedy and theater festivals, and performs countless corporate shows.
Frank is also well known for his grace in handling volunteers onstage, and has brought up such luminaries as Henry Kissinger, Bill Murray, Sandra Day O’Connor, Kid Rock, Clarence Thomas, Jim Belushi, George Shultz, and Howie Mandel.
Dan was born in 1961 by Immaculate Conception (at least that’s what his mother says).
His formative years were spent in the culturally deprived paradise that was California’s San Fernando Valley in the 1970s. Wanting the easy money and warped reality enjoyed by child movie stars, he began taking speech and acting classes. At age eleven, he landed a supporting role in the cult horror classic, It’s Alive.
After graduating from high school in 1978, he applied to the school of hard knocks, but was rejected because he had too much money.
In 1980 he set out on a quest to find the long lost brother he never had. After years of searching high and low, he started looking in the middle. It wasn’t long before he located his unrelated sibling, Barry Raspyni, and the Raspyni Brothers have been wowing audiences since then.
Golf clubs balance in impossible configurations and cabbages collide midair with flying blow darts while blazing torches, 16-pound bowling balls and razor-sharp garden weasels fly effortlessly overhead.
Using audience participation, hilarious improvisation, and great comic dialogue, the Dan packs hist time on stage with a dynamic mix of skill and style.
Mountain Motion‘s mission is to entertain, inspire, and educate audiences around the world through dynamic performance and presentation.
Jeremiah Johnson: Influenced throughout his life by art, dance and adventure, Jeremiah strives to live a life of excitement and expression. Having worked with several performance troupes at events and gatherings across the United States, Jeremiah now shares the magic of juggling and flow arts with the world
Erin Stephens: Two time bronze medalist of the World Juggling Federation Championships; special guest performer at various national and international juggling and circus festivals; juggler and choreographer for the acclaimed Salt Fire Circus; co-founder of YEP – a nation wide juggling education program; Chairwoman of the International Jugglers’ Association Board of Directors.
Kevin Axtell: Director and performer for Mountain Mischief. Kevin is a highly respected performer and instructor throughout the juggling community, and has performed in our show many times, headlining in 2008.
Ben Johnson has worked as a professional performer and teacher since 1997. His credits as an actor, improviser, and clown include work for the American Conservatory Theater, Cirque du Soleil, and BATS Improv. Ben holds a Master’s degree in teaching from Brown University and has over ten years of experience as a teaching artist. He currently teaches throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, including regular classes in acting, improvisation, and physical comedy at the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre and BATS Improv.
Richard Hartnell is among the most distinguished American contact jugglers.
His career in object manipulation stretches over many years and many miles of the west coast of the US. In 2008, Richard was a co-founder of the Bellingham Circus Guild in northwest Washington State; in 2009, he relocated to the Vulcan, a collective of movement artists in Oakland, to perform full-time. He currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and tours around the world, both solo and as a member of various troupes.
From the fundamentals to the far reaches, Richard has a grasp of contact juggling technique that brings him repeatedly to stages and streets worldwide. He has been invited to teach and perform over the west coast as well as Nevada, Colorado, Texas, Florida, Canada, the UK, and Germany.
Revolva first hit the stage at age four in a Detroit-area ballet class. After a lifetime of dancing, acting and word slinging (see her writing bio), she added hoops to her repertoire in 2002. Audiences as far away as Europe and Asia have never been the same. While she can blow crowds away away freestyling to live music, she really shines with her signature, over-the-top character numbers. Her mantra? “Funny IS sexy!”
In 2009, Revolva co-founded Circus Artemis: Portland Women’s Circus — which sold out a 400-seat venue for three nights in a row, for its debut run. Now based in Oakland, CA, Revolva has rocked the stage with troupes such as: Circus Artemis, New Old Time Chautauqua Vaudeville Tour, and Wanderlust Circus – served as opening/support entertainment for bands such as OK Go, Weird Al Yankovic and Los Straitjackets– and been nabbed as a hot act by big-name clients such as Yahoo, Google and Ubuntu. She has also won the 2010 “Fire Idol” competition at Burning Man, served as the 2011 face of Synergy Fire Hoops, won a 2012 international Hoopie Award, and earned The Busking Project’s top pick award in the 2011 “How do you contribute to public space?” contest.
Being a role model for girls and women is of paramount importance to Revolva. That’s why you’ll find her exploding onto the stage with tight technical skills and extra humor, sometimes talking into a mic instead of just doing a beautiful dance, and staying long after the show’s over to chat with any audience members who need to meet a female comedy variety act (a genre often dominated by male performers).
Bruce Lindsay Glaseroff is a professional clown, performance artist, musician and teacher living in San Francisco, California. He is a graduate of the San Francisco Circus Center Clown Conservatory, and holds a bachelors degree in Theater Arts from the University of California, Santa Cruz. With his company, Pi-The Physical Comedy Troupe, Bruce performs across the United States and Canada, at festivals, regional theaters and with circuses. Bruce’s acting credits include roles in The Winters’ Tale, and Princess and The Pea with Shakespeare Santa Cruz. He has also performed at Treatro ZinZanni’s late night cabaret both in San Francisco and Seattle.
Fallon Burner’s style is unlike that of any other performer. With a background in musical theatre, Fallon brings her own voice, interpretation, and movement style to exciting new works on the ground, in the air, and balancing on other people. She’s not afraid to break out of the mold by being happy, brightly colored…..or a duck. Her infusion of grace and silliness is what makes her a great addition to any group, troupe, or event – an artist who can stand alone and plays well with others.
At 6 years old Kai Heartlife has already performed on stages from coast to coast. He performs with his parents as part of EarthCapades, demonstrating that “Saving the Planet can be Fun!” He has also performed his solo routines at various Juggling festivals including the IJA Youth Showcase.
And more!
Note: Lineup is subject to change.
Questions or comments? Contact us at festival-show@berkeleyjuggling.org.